Goodnight and Goodbye
by coolkitten12
Summary: When Mitchie loses the love of her life, it changes her. Then she meets the mysterious Tyler Byrant and starts to wonder if maybe there's a future she could never have dreamed of
1. Bad News

**AN: Yes, another new story (I will finish Introducing Me). I've had the idea for this one in my head a while and wanted to get the first chapter out there to see what people thought. Please let me know if you think this is a story worth working on. And no, I don't own a thing.**

It had been all over the press for days. Shane Grey, top pop superstar and one third of Connect 3, was missing. No one could work out how it was possible, it wasn't like he had a face that no one would notice. But he hadn't been seen for almost a week and the police had no leads as to where he could be.

Mitchie paced round the room. It was the last place she had seen him and something about what he said and how he acted made her worry that this disappearance may have been deliberate.

"Stop over thinking it Mitch. Everything will be fine, don't worry." For someone whose brother was missing, Nate seemed able to stay surprisingly calm. He hadn't let any of this get to him, constantly reassuring the others everything would be back to normal soon. But under the facade they were all starting to see the cracks. He too was beginning to lose faith.

Mitchie collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted. She'd barely slept since Shane had gone missing, trying to spend every moment she could helping to find him.

"Get some rest tonight Mitch, there's nothing more you can do." Nate advised as he watched her yawn for the third time in the last minute.

"I'll try." Mitchie replied, curling into a ball on the sofa. Nate watched as she finally let sleep over power her, but not before letting another tear drop from her eyes. He'd never seen anyone cry so much in such a short space of time. He moved over, wrapping his arm around her. If his brother couldn't be there to comfort her, Nate decided he would have to do his best to fill in.

There they slept, curled up together in dreamless sleeps, until the next day when an early morning doorbell ring woke them.

* * *

><p>Tyler Byrant drove through New York, the sun shining down on his brand new Mercedes, radio playing a mix of classic pop songs. As he turned down his usual short cut the song changed.<p>

_This has, been no walk in the park_

_I feel like we have_

_Fallen apart._

His hand reached over instinctively, turning the radio off before he could hear anymore of the song. It had been a long time since he had last willingly listened to a Connect 3 song and at the age of twenty-five he thought he had a right to never have to again, especially when it had been five years since the band split.

He pulled into the car park of his office, glancing in the wing mirror to ensure his dirty blond hair was still perfectly styled. Once sure he looked suitable he climbed from that car and entered the building in which he spent most of his time.

"Good morning, Boxer and Long publishing? One moment please." Sarah, your typical smiley receptionist, was already at her desk, beating Tyler to work for once. As she saw him approach she put the call she was dealing with on hold, just so she could greet him.

"Morning Mr Byrant, I've put your mail on your desk and Richard James called, I told him you'd phone him back as soon as you get the opportunity." Sarah was desperate to impress him, that was obvious. Tyler just gave a smile and a nod in response before retreating to his office. He'd seen and known many girls like Sarah in the past and was well aware how easy it was to lead them on, so he made every effort to make no moves which could give her the wrong impression.

Entering his office he sighed at the pile of papers sitting on his desk. In amongst the junk mail and letters begging him to give the writers a job, was a stack of manuscripts which he was already meant to have read and reported back on. He took a seat in his plush leather chair and picked up the first piece of mail his hand fell on, another week of work underway.

* * *

><p>"What was that?" Mitchie sprung awake at the loud ring of the bell. Nate stretched, removing his arm from around her. It was only 8am and it was a Saturday, he couldn't imagine who would come that early.<p>

"Stay here, just in case it's the press." Paparazzi had been following them constantly since news of Shane's disappearance had gotten out. No matter how often they asked them just to allow them some privacy at this difficult time, the press never listened. A new article about Shane or Connect 3 had appeared online every day, their faces covered all the magazines and it was getting tiring. Nate didn't think allowing the press to know Mitchie had stayed the night at his apartment, when Shane wasn't around, would help their situation very much.

He opened the door, only to find himself face to face with the two policemen he'd come to know too well over the last week. Their presence on his doorstop worried him. When they'd left the day before they told him they'd only come back if there was a major development. His heartbeat sped up in anticipation of what he was about to be told.

"Good morning Mr Grey, may we come in?" Nate nodded and stepped aside as the policemen made their way to the lounge where Mitchie was still curled up on the sofa.

"Oh good, Miss Torres you're here to." Detective Kline said, glad that was one less visit they would have to make this morning. Nate joined them and took a seat, sensing whatever they were here to tell him wouldn't be good. He took Mitchie's hand and gripped it tightly; well aware she would be the one who needed more comforting in this situation.

"At six this morning a discovery was made in the case involving your brother." The policeman looked at the youngsters who he was about to devastate with a few words. It was moments like this he regretted choosing this career.

"We were alerted to a location on the beach where items of clothing and other possession bearing similar descriptions to those Shane was wearing on the day of his disappearance had been found. After further investigation a note was discovered with the other items, the hand writing matching that of Shane's." Mitchie and Nate were shocked. Without having to say the exact words, the policeman had given then a strong idea of what had happened to Shane. But Nate couldn't believe it until he heard the words.

"What exactly are you telling us?"

"Mr Grey, Miss Torres." Mitchie hated how formal they all were when talking to her or any of the others, it made it all worse. "We don't believe this to be a case of kidnap or missing person. We believe that Shane Grey committed suicide."

* * *

><p>From his desk Tyler had the perfect view of the office. The glass wall that divided him from reception allowed him to see everyone who came and left the office.<p>

He'd spent the last three hours reading through yet another manuscript which had no hope of being published. But whilst the other people at the company would always complain that junior office members should be responsible for filtering the good from the rubbish, Tyler actually enjoyed reading the bad ones. It was a truly awful novel that had gotten him into this career in the first place, so he always refused to just skim them, giving them as much attention as he could, ensuring to always reply with any advice he had.

As he sat there, his brain a million miles away, filled with thoughts, he stared out into reception. His boss had come in earlier, bragging to him that a new rising writing talent was coming in today. Why he was being told, Tyler didn't know, but he'd spent the rest of the morning trying to figure out who, of the many people who had entered the office that day, it was.

The latest candidate entered. She walked confidently up to Sarah's desk, obviously registering her arrival. This was the one, Tyler was certain of it. It had to be, she had the typical aspect of people who would succeed in the industry: A mixture of confidence and casual-ness. At least that's what Tyler had come to notice many of their companies' most successful writers were like. Plus Sarah's reaction was a little too enthusiastic, a key clue.

Tyler watched as the mystery girl took a seat, waiting to be met. Something about her seemed strangely familiar but Tyler couldn't figure out why.

The girl took her glasses off and glanced around the office, getting her bearings. Tyler was, in an instant, relived that the glass window was only one way, that she couldn't see him staring at her, because as her eyes looked directly at him, he realised where he knew her from and he couldn't believe it. Five years had passed but she really hadn't changed.

**AN: So this was just a taster of this story. Im going to be writing it slowly over summer, a new chapter every two weeks or so depending on what else I have to do, as long as there is enough interest in it. Please review and let me know what you think!**


	2. Disastrous Days

Chapter 2: Disastrous Days

They never found a body and eventually the search was ended. It was believed Shane had drowned in the local river and, as the chief of police explained, his body would most probably have drifted off to sea and never be found.

Sooner than she liked Mitchie found herself preparing for a funeral she never expected she'd have to attend.

"You have everything you need?" Nate asked, sticking his head into the room. After they'd realised Shane was never coming back, Mitchie had started talking about moving out. But Nate refused to let her. In his view, just because she moved in to live with Shane, didn't mean she had to leave because he had. Though he hadn't admitted it, Nate really didn't want to live alone at the moment. If he was honest, he really enjoyed Mitchie's company and would do anything to keep her around. She helped distract him at the worst moments.

"I'm not sure I can do this Nate." She said as she stared into the mirror, adjusting the smart black dress she had forced herself to buy days before. It was one shopping trip she had not enjoyed.

"In just a few hours we can start moving on, all this stuff for other people will be over."

Mitchie stopped and spun on her heel. It was then that Nate saw the tear stained streaks down her face.

"I don't want to move on." Mitchie stated, the anger clear in her voice. Shane had been her first love and at that moment he was the only love Mitchie ever wanted. He had changed her life and she thought she'd changed his, but with recent events she was realising that perhaps her impact on him wasn't as dramatic or permanent.

"Mitchie...I..." Nate tried to excuse his word, but she wouldn't give him the chance.

"He isn't dead, you hear me Nate, I won't believe it until I see his body. He can't just be gone! We're going to go there today and all sit looking at an _empty_ coffin. That's not him, today has nothing to do with him. It's just so people can sit there and admit they've given up, admit they don't want to search anymore. But I love him and I'm not ready to give up, unlike you." The last bit sounded harsher than she meant, but it was true. Once the police had shown Nate the suicide letter, he clearly stopped trying, and Mitchie had yet to forgive him for it.

"I'm sorry Mitch. Maybe you're right, maybe one day he'll walk back into our lives and say this is all a big misunderstanding. But right now I can't believe that's going to happen. I'm sorry I've given up, I wish I could remain as hopeful as you have, but I just can't. Today I have to say goodbye to my brother and no matter how much I wish I didn't have to, it's going to happen."

Mitchie's tears stopped. In the time she had known Nate, she had never once heard him refer to Shane as his brother. It was almost as though the fact they had hidden it from the public meant they had ended up hiding it from each other. She'd been so focused on who Shane was to her, she'd stopped considering who he had been to everyone else. She wrapped her arms around Nate. They needed to stick together at this time, not fall apart and she realised that the way she'd been acting wasn't helping that. She wiped the tears from her eyes and glance back into the mirror to ensure her hair wasn't totally destroyed, ignoring her makeup (she knew there was no hope for it today). Then she took a deep breath and grabbed Nate's hand with her own.

"Let's give him the send off he deserves." Mitchie said, with as much confidence as she could muster. Nate gave her a sad smile, thankful that she seemed to understand it was just as hard for him, even if he didn't show it. The pair of them walked down the stairs and out into the waiting hearse, joining Nate's parents, ready for what they all expected to be the worst day of their lives.

_GNG-GNG-GNG_

"Ah Mr Byrant, just the man I was looking for. Can I see you in my office please?"

"Could it wait sir? It's just..." He had seen the girl disappear into his boss' office and really didn't want to end up in the same room as her. He wasn't sure that would end well. But he had no excuse. "I...erm...but..."

"Now." The boss seemed unlikely to budge so he put down the manuscript he had been trying to edit and, with his head hung slightly, followed his boss into the slightly larger, more excessively decorated office across the corridor.

There she sat, her attention focused on her hands, clearly nervous. Tyler almost laughed when he realised that was exactly what she had done the last time they spoke. How little people change, he pondered.

"Mr Byrant, this morning I mentioned to you that the new star writer would be joining us. Well, I'd like you to meet her. Ms Torres, this is Mr Byrant, you're new agent."

'No.' He thought. Nothing could seem worse to him in that moment than having to work with her. Being a literary agent meant spending hours with the writers you're representing and that was something Tyler really dreaded having to do with this client. Whilst inside he was panicking, outside he pretended to be as calm as possible.

"Nice to meet you." He stuck his hand out, expecting her shocked realisation any second.

"You too." She glanced up nervously, unsure what to expect.

"I'll let you two get better acquainted." Mr Boxer said, though instead of leaving the office, he indicated that Tyler should escort Ms Torres back to his own office, which he obediently did.

"So, Ms Torres, tell me about you're novel." He said as he took his seat, relaxing for the first time all morning. If she didn't recognise who he was, then this could be okay.

"Well, firstly call me Mitchie. And it's a drama." She explained as she handed over her manuscript as Mr Boxer had told her to do. "It's about a teenager who loses his memory and has to try and piece his life back together, but finds there are people deliberately trying to stop him."

Tyler had to admit, it actually did intrigue him, something a synopsis had not done for a while. And Mr Boxer was usually right when he chose stories as their 'star reads'.

"Why a teenager?" He asked as he picked up the manuscript, reading the title. 'Forgotten' – simple yet descriptive, telling you all you need to know, but not too much. Tyler had to admit she was already impressing him.

"I started writing it when I was nineteen. At the time I could only think how a teenager would feel. As I grew up I didn't see the point in changing the age, as by then the rest of the story had been shaped around the lead being that age." Mitchie replied, becoming more confident. Everyone had warned her that her agent may be a bit of a nightmare, but it seemed she had lucked out. Mr Byrant seemed a genuine guy, hopefully he would just focus on getting her career on the right track. It had been a long time since she'd put her career in someone else's hands.

"What makes you want to be a writer Mitchie?" That was the question most new writers fell down on. They could sound completely at ease and confident about their own work, but when faced with a question about their careers as a whole, most didn't have a clue what they wanted or why.

Mitchie sat and thought for a while. It was something she'd never considered, not about writing anyway. If she was honest, a few years ago she would never have expected herself to have a chance at a writer's career.

"I've always written, for as long as I can remember, just in different forms. Then this idea for a story came to mind and once I started writing it, I couldn't stop. I didn't at first consider it as a career option, just something to spend my free time doing. But eventually I became so dedicated to it, and those who I showed it to claimed it was good, so I took a chance. If you don't put yourself out there, you may never get anywhere." Tyler just nodded, not giving away any opinion. He wanted to see how she'd react when he put the pressure on. It was how he usually worked out which writers would do well and which would be successful.

"How long did it take you to write?"

"About four or so years, on and off. I know that's a long time but I wanted to get it right." Mitchie tried to excuse her delay.

"Four years is a usual amount of time." Tyler replied. He opened the manuscript. As he read her words, his opinion of her only improved. For months he'd been reading utter rubbish, yet after only a few pages his interest was caught. He suddenly put the manuscript down and looked directly at her.

"It's good. Come back on Friday. I'll read it and make notes which we will then discuss."

Mitchie thanked him before rushing from the office, taking a sigh of relief as she exited the building, glad the first meeting was over.

_GNG-GNG-GNG_

"Thank you for coming." Nate never thought a phrase could get so boring when repeated over and over again. He was positioned at the exit to the church alongside his parents and Uncle Brown. The funeral was over and everyone was moving into the churchyard to look at the thousands of flower bouquets donated by friends, family and fans. Nate thought it was ironic. One of the final things he and Shane had discussed was gifts from their supporters and Shane had mentioned then how he never understood why they were sent flowers. Nate had tried to argue that it was the thought that counted, but Shane had not agreed.

As the last person left the church, Nate looked out over all the people who had attended. There was a large mix of people, from family who really knew Shane, to friends they'd been in touch with since they were babies. Then there was the hangers on, those who they'd met through their career and who, no doubt, would offers magazines a comment on their sadness at the loss of 'a great Grey' (as Nate had heard one attendee refer to Shane.)

He eyes landed on his best friend. Even at such a sad event, when she'd spent hours crying, Nate couldn't help but think she was beautiful. He watched her and Caitlyn make their way to the cars, stopping briefly to talk to their fellow camp mates on the way.

"Nate?" For the first time in all the years he had known Jason, he actually wanted a hug. When Jason embraced him Nate felt oddly calm, as if something's would never change. Nate hadn't seen his band mate since they were last in the studio and was unsure whether it was a result of the circumstances, or just the time they'd been apart, but to Nate, Jason suddenly seemed older, no longer the innocent and immature kid he had been for so long. "It was a lovely ceremony man."

Jason had noticed that Nate was reaching his limit and so made the move to extract him from his parents, give him a chance to escape, at least for the journey back home. He led his young friend to a spare car, which he had arranged to be kept to just them. "Are you okay?"

That question surprised Nate. For the last few days people had told him everything would be alright, asked if he was coping and whether Mitchie was okay. But no one had asked if _he_ was okay, they'd all just assumed he wasn't and Nate hadn't stopped to question whether they were right. Was he okay? If he was honest he didn't feel okay, he just felt numb.

"I will be." He replied, knowing that eventually that would be true. "It's weird, you know. This isn't something I ever thought I'd be dealing with and now that it has, it's all come in a rush. I've not really stopped and thought about any of it yet. I'm sort of scared that when all this is over tomorrow morning there'll be nothing to distract me from thinking it all through." That's what worried Jason. He knew only too well his friend's ability to think about things in too much depth. While it helped when they needed a few good song lyrics, with real meaning behind them, he knew it was never good for Nate's own mind.

"If you need someone to talk to, I'm never far away, just remember that." He wanted Nate to know that no matter what he was someone to be turned to. Then something happened that shocked Jason. Nate started crying and then hugged him, something he swore he would never do of his own accord. Looking down at his friend, Jason noticed just how young Nate seemed. Jason didn't know what to do, so he hugged him back and they stayed like that until the car pulled up at the house for the wake, yet another event Nate didn't want to face.

**AN: What do you guys think? Do you like where this story is going? Please review and let me know.**


	3. What Happened Next

Chapter 3 – What came next.

"I can't believe it's over." Mitchie said, slumping into the sofa next to Nate. All the guests had left, the wake was over and Nate's parents had cleared everything away before leaving Mitchie and Nate to themselves.

"It wasn't as bad as I'd expected." Nate admitted. He was just about ready to fall asleep. It had been a long day but they'd managed to keep the press away and everyone had spent the evening remembering the good times with Shane. Nate was still in a numb state, despite everything that day, it still didn't seem real. A month ago his brother had been sat in the living room, laughing and joking along with them. Now he was gone and Nate would never see him again. It was almost as if his mind couldn't process it.

"I'm going to get some sleep." Nate decided, leaving Mitchie to her thoughts.

Something didn't add up for her. Shane had seemed fine days before he disappeared. Yes, he'd talked about leaving the industry, about the fact he no longer felt he knew himself and yes, they'd fought, but no more than most couples usually did. So why would he take such extreme actions out of nowhere?

The next day Mitchie returned to work, the label wanted a new album from her by the end of the month and that meant she needed to get writing, to combat the mental block she'd been facing and get pen to paper.

She sat in the label's office, having had a meeting with her manager during which he'd expressed his concern for her well being given the current circumstance (a phrase Mitchie was growing rapidly bored of) but asking her to try to channel her emotion into lyrics. It was like no one understood how it felt to lose the one you loved, but still be questioning the truth of it.

She stared at the blank paper in front of her, willing some lyrics to come. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, letting her instincts take over.

_GNG-GNG-GNG_

Tyler drove home after a long day, his mind fixed on Mitchie's novel. He hadn't been able to put it down all afternoon and found her writing ability was as good as it had been towards lyrics. He would never admit it to his friends (they wouldn't deem it "cool") but he had once been a huge Mitchie Torres fan. To see she was still trying to make something of herself, years after her sudden departure from the music industry, made him smile. He wanted to help her succeed.

He drove down the New York streets as the sun was setting. It was this time of day he enjoyed the most, there was a sense of peace about it, a feeling that, even if you'd had the worst day imaginable, you could look up at the sunset and feel at ease.

When he entered his home – a luxury 5 bedroom apartment, with views over central park, he went over to his CD collection and selected a single he hadn't listened to in a long time. It was the final one Mitchie Torres released before she refused to ever work in the industry again, and Tyler thought it would be the perfect accompaniment to the end of the novel.

He settled into the sofa and turned toward the end of the manuscript. He'd already read 300 pages since his meeting with Mitchie and was hoping to finish the final 100 before bedtime.

_GNG-GNG-GNG_

"Mr James?" Mitchie was nervous about this. She'd spent most of the last week talking things through with Nate, who had repeatedly tried to convince her to give it some more time, but she was determined. After completing the single, Mitchie had made her mind up about her future and she knew it was a decision her manager was not going to be pleased with.

"Ah Miss Torres, good to see you. The executives have just heard your new single and are very pleased." Mr James had been her manager since the day she left Camp Rock. Brown had introduced them after Final Jam and as soon as the label agreed to sign her, Mr James had taken full responsibility for her, guiding her through the tough land of the music industry.

"That's good." She replied, certain the nerves were clear in her voice. "Would it be possible for us to talk for a moment?"

"Of course. What's on your mind?" Mr James asked as he took a seat at the ridiculously large meeting table, indicating that Mitchie should do the same.

"I want to quit." She was blunter than she'd meant to be and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she'd phrased it differently.

"Why would that be?" Her manager had been expecting this for the past few days, what with everything she'd been going through, and had already discussed with the label bosses what they would do if she came to this decision. But he wanted Mitchie to give an explanation before he gave a solution.

"With everything that's happened with, well, you know." She paused, pushing away the tears that always fought to escape when she thought of Shane, "It's just, with that last single, my hearts not in it anymore and I want time to get out of the limelight and deal with everything." She wasn't coping with the situation as well as the others thought she was, always telling them she was fine when she felt the opposite. They were all going through a similar thing and she didn't want to burden them with her feelings as well as their own. "I know I signed a contract but this isn't exactly a situation I foresaw when I did. I hope you can understand."

Mr James was quiet for a while, taking in the girl sat in front of him. When he first met Mitchie she was bright, bubbly and always enthusiastic about writing and recording new songs. Now, a year later, at just eighteen, having faced a tragedy many people didn't have to deal with until they were at least 4 times her age, Mr James saw a tired looking girl (he wondered when she'd last properly slept) who'd had to be persuaded to try and write a new song and even then it had taken a lot longer than normal. He knew that if he made her stay, the pressure may push her too far and the label was already dealing with the press pressure of one lost pop star.

"How about I make you a deal?" Mr James replied, explaining the agreement he had made with the label bosses as if he had just thought it up himself. "Release this single, we'll keep the press work to a minimum, then take a break for six months –no work, no appearances, nothing. After that time, come back and see me. If you want to get back into the industry, I'll do all I can to help you, if not, well, you're free to do whatever else you please."

Mitchie agreed to the deal. It wasn't exactly what she wanted but it was better than she'd expected.

A month later her final single was released, after which no one heard from Mitchie Torres, singing sensation, again.

**AN: A bit short but there'll be more soon I promise. Please review and let me know what you think!**


	4. Just another New York Night

Chapter 4: Just another New York night

Mitchie unlocked the door to her New York apartment, switching the lights on as soon as she entered. She hated coming back to a dark place, it seemed so eerie and lonely, yet every morning she always forgot to leave any lights on.

She'd continued living with Nate for a year in L.A and they'd enjoyed each other's company. But then things got awkward.

Nate had been away for a few months on his first solo tour. After the loss of their figure head, Connect 3 parted ways. Jason had taken up acting (with quite a lot of success) whilst Nate continued in the music industry. While he'd been away Nate had phoned Mitchie every few days to make sure she was okay. They'd grown so used to having each other around all the time that being apart for more than a few days led to them both missing each other excessively.

When Nate arrived back he and Mitchie had spent hours catching up about everything that had happened while he'd been away, despite the fact they both already knew everything. It was just nice to hear each other's voices not through a phone so they allowed stories to be repeated late into the night, enjoying each other's company. Then something happened that changed their friendship in an instant.

They'd been sat on the sofa laughing about one of the many embarrassing moments Nate had experience on tour: a fan had thrown herself at him, sending both of them crashing to the ground. Mitchie found herself catching Nate's eye, completely by accident. Everything went silent and, without even realising what was happening, they suddenly found themselves inches apart. Then, their lips met in a simple, innocent, kiss. They pulled away, their eye contact still intact, neither sure how to react. For Nate, it was a moment he'd dreamed about since meeting Mitchie, when he'd fallen in love with her instantly, then lost her to his brother. As much as he missed Shane every day he thought that maybe, just maybe, it was finally his turn to get the girl.

Mitchie had always sensed Nate's feelings for her ran deeper than friendship, but to her he was like a little brother and though Shane had been gone over a year, she still wasn't ready to move on. She held on to the hope he would one day come back to her, even though it was quickly fading.

Eventually Mitchie turned away and the awkwardness that filled the room was unbearable. She excused herself to bed and by the time she returned downstairs the next morning, she'd already decided it was time to move out, and to do so as soon as possible.

That's how she found herself in a small apartment in New York. She'd lived off some of the money she'd earned from her music career before eventually taking a job as a waitress at 'The Jellybean Cafe', located just down the road from her home. It was there she gained the inspiration for her novel. One afternoon in the height of summer she'd been serving a table, subtly spying on the customers' conversations as she usually did. There had been two young girls sat at one of the tables discussing their friend who had been in an accident and she'd overheard them saying how he seemed unable to get his memory back, no matter how much he tried. Something in that caught Mitchie's attention and by the time she returned home from that shift she found herself grabbing a pen and a pad and sitting down, desperate to get her thoughts on paper. She'd missed writing and found that once she started it took a lot of effort to resist sitting and writing for hours.

Now the novel was about to be published, she once again found herself lacking inspiration. That story was over and now she would spend her evening in her apartment with very little to do. She still worked at the cafe, she'd become quite good friends with the owners and felt that even if the book did take off, she'd still want to remain an employee there. She enjoyed the variety of people she got to meet on a daily basis and hoped that one day they would maybe provide her with more inspiration.

The night after her meeting Mitchie found herself with nothing to do, on her own with no one to talk to, she felt totally alone. It was nights like this she missed the Grey brothers the most. So often she would go to sleep early, just in the hope that they would at least be with her in her dreams.

She switched the TV on and turned to some meaningless junk, just to provide her apartment with some background noise. She couldn't stand the silence. She had to admit she hated living alone and she had often wished she still lived with Nate. They'd kept in touch and were still good friend, but now they lived at opposite sides of the country, in different time zones even, they only saw each other very rarely and if they did, it was only for a few days at a time. Mitchie had to admit there had been many times over the four years since she'd moved out that she'd gotten very close to just turning up at his door and staying for a proper catch up. But each time she went to book plane tickets there, she would back out at the last minute, worried he wouldn't appreciate her sudden arrival. She had to remind herself that he had a new life now, new people he spent his time with that she didn't even know. She wasn't sure he'd welcome her quite as enthusiastically as he once would have.

She sighed, thinking of how different things could have been. She wasn't unhappy with her life, but it wasn't as she'd once imagined it could turn out to be.

Walking into the kitchen, Mitchie tried to think of something to eat. She hated cooking for one, she never could think of anything interesting to feed herself and usually ended up cooking some form of pasta dish. However this time her search of the kitchen was cut short by a knock at the door. Not expecting anyone, Mitchie was confused as to who could be demanding her attention at this time of night.

_GNG- GNG- GNG_

Tyler looked through his fridge, trying to find a way to silence his grumbling stomach, He'd gotten so deeply immersed into the end of Mitchie's book that he'd lost track of time. As he'd finished the final page, he'd glanced up at the clock, realising with surprise it was already ten o'clock.

'Why is it' he wondered to himself, 'always the nights I have no food that I leave eating till it's too late to nip out and buy supplies?' He moved to a drawer, in which he stored takeout menus from places all over the city for nights like this. Selecting his most frequently used pizza menu, he dialled the number and, being such a repetitive orderer, he gave his address and asked for his usual.

Settling back onto the sofa twenty minutes later, with a pizza box and root beer, Tyler found his thoughts returning to Mitchie's manuscript. He'd been really impressed until it came to the ending, which disappointed him. It seemed so dissatisfying having read the whole story.

The lead had discovered who was trying to stop him remembering and confronted them about it, only to discover they were doing it for the sake of those who his accident had made him leave behind. Those he used to know all assumed he was dead and had grieved and moved on with their lives. After that realisation, the lead gained his memory back but didn't return to his old life, continuing with the new life he had made for himself.

Tyler made a few notes on his thoughts to give to Mitchie when he next saw her. He wrote the query that caused his main dissatisfaction with the ending: _What was the point in reading the story if he never actually changes anything, he is the same at the end as he is at the start, he has not moved on at all._

He felt bad that he was able to find flaw in her story, but then again, he reminded himself, she was a new writer and it was quite surprising that he'd only found one major issue with it.

Having demolished his pizza, Tyler decided to take the rest of the night off. He flicked through the TV channels, eventually landing on Hot Tunes where a celebrity gossip story actually caught his attention.

"The ring is rumoured to be a Tiffany's original costing around $10,000" the reporter said as the screen showed a blurry close up of a diamond engagement ring. "When asked if they planned to marry soon, Jason Green replied that he and his fiance Ella Pador have 'only just gotten engaged and haven't even started thinking about the wedding yet.' We at Hot Tunes with them all the best for the future."

Tyler was surprised that Jason Green was actually settling down. He'd always thought the former member of Connect 3 would never take anything in life seriously.

As the reporter went on to discuss gossip about other celebrities who Tyler couldn't care less about, he switched the TV off. In the quiet of his living room he suddenly found himself feeling very lonely and wondering, as he often did, if he'd made the right choices in his life.

Throwing his pizza box away, Tyler decided that with nothing better to do, he may as well get an early night. But not before promising that at the weekend he would live up to what was expected of twenty-five year olds like himself and hit the town.

GNG-GNG-GNG

When Mitchie opened the door, she gave her visitor quite an unexpected greeting. She laughed. Nothing more than that, for a full 30 seconds she laughed at the person she saw standing there.

"That's not exactly what I had in mind after not seeing you for six months." The visitor said once Mitchie had calmed down.

"Sorry Nate, it's just I was literally just thinking about you." Nate Grey had been the last person she expected to be seeing tonight, but there he was, outside her apartment, thousands of miles from his home.

"So, can I come in?" He said when she didn't make any move to invite him.

"Of course, sorry, I'm just rather surprised to see you." She moved aside and allowed him to enter, leading him to the living room and suddenly feeling rather guilty about the state she'd let it get to. "Sorry about the mess. If I'd had some warning I could have done something about it." She apologised as they both took a seat.

"If I'd given you warning then this wouldn't have been a surprise, would it?" Nate teased. He was really glad to see his best friend. Being apart so long made him realise just how comfortable they were together. They could just slip back into conversation as if they'd never been apart. He knew it had been too long since they were last around each other for more than a few hours.

"What are you doing here anyway? I didn't know you were on a tour at the moment or doing any press." Mitchie didn't normally see Nate in her part of the country unless the visit was tied into some form of work.

"I'm not." He replied. If he was honest he didn't really know why he was here, but something inside had told him that it was time he went and spent some proper time with her. "Can't I just come and visit you without some other reason behind it?"

"Well you can, but you haven't before." Though she didn't mean there to be, a slight tone of hurt infused her voice as she responded. She missed being able to just see Nate because they wanted to see each other, not because it was convenient.

"I'm here to make up for that." Nate said, feeling rather guilty it had taken him so long to do this. "I'm taking a break from my career and I thought what better way to spend my time than staying and spending time with one of my best friends. If she'll let me that is?" He knew it was a bit cheeky just turning up on her doorstep and asking to stay. He had a hotel booked in case she said no but he really hoped she wouldn't.

"Stay here?" Mitchie asked, wanting to be sure she understood what he was suggesting. Nate nodded and Mitchie couldn't help but smile. How was it that exactly what she wanted was happening without her even having to ask. "Well... I'm not sure." She replied, just to wind him up.

"Oh, that's cool I can just go to a hotel, as long as I get to see you I'm happy." Nate said, slightly saddened.

"Of course you can stay here you idiot, do you really think I would turn you away?" Nate instantly brightened up.

"You're sure?" He felt bad imposing.

"Don't be daft. Though, how long are you planning on staying?" She assumed it would only be a few days, it always was.

"How does a month sound to you? I mean I don't have to stay here all that time."

Mitchie was shocked. Just when she'd been feeling desperate to spend some proper time with her friend, he appears ready to do exactly that. It felt like this was her best day in a long time.

"That would be fantastic!" She squealed excitedly, "but don't you have stuff to get back to? And you have no luggage!" She didn't want him to be jeopardising his career just because of her.

"I've been working for the label for nearly ten years now, I think I deserve a proper break for once. It just means my next album will be a little later, but people have waited a year for it already, I'm sure they won't mind a few extra months." And even if they did, he thought, sometimes friendships need to come first. "And Jase is sending some stuff over for me, once he's decided whether he's flying out as well or not". Though Mitchie may not realise it, Nate had come to think that the next month could be hard for all of them.

"Well I better go set up your room then!" Mitchie said, realising the guest room wasn't exactly prepared for visitors.

As she headed towards the stairs Nate called out to her.

"Hey Mitch." He said, "It's really great to see you."

"You too." She replied with a massive smile, before disappearing to get everything organised. She finally had her best friend back in her life, just when she felt she really needed him.

**AN: You're getting a new chapter because I passed my driving theory test and am pretty please. If you could make me even happier and review I'll think of you when driving my car. Plus you might get a sneak peak of the next chapter!**


	5. That's Just How This City Goes

Chapter 5: That's just how this city goes

The week had seemed to have dragged on. Tyler found himself staring at the clock counting down to home time by Friday night. His week had turned into a rather monotonous one, his only highlight being his second meeting with Mitchie earlier that day and even that hadn't been quite as successful and positive as he'd hoped.

She'd been late for a start. For a reason Tyler couldn't quite explain he always hated when people were late. If he had to be on time, why shouldn't they? And she hadn't even had a good excuse, except that a friend was staying and had overslept and he didn't have a key so she couldn't just leave him in the house. If he was honest, the whole thing had made him more than a little disappointed.

Now he was facing a weekend filled with manuscript reading and editing and then a Monday morning of phone calls to authors they were never going to consider making clients out of, just to give them some false hope in case it inspired greatness. Sometimes he truly despised his job.

"See you next week Mr Byrant." Sarah called to him as she leaned into his office, finished for the week. It was times like these Tyler hated that he'd agreed to extra hours on a Friday. As much as he enjoyed the slight lie in it gained him on a Monday, often it didn't seem worth it.

"Night Sarah, enjoy you're weekend." He replied, and could almost predict the next words that would leave her mouth.

"I will, maybe I'll see you out sometime?" She was always hoping he may invite her out with him, he was only a few months older than her. No matter how much Tyler made it clear he didn't want to mix work and pleasure, she never gave up.

"Maybe." He said. Although New York was a large city, there was a few clubs that everyone frequented and so Tyler was well aware that if she happened to be out later that night, as he planned to be, it was likely he would see her.

When she eventually left, after saying goodbye twice more, Tyler returned to his pile of papers with a sigh. He couldn't bear to read any more badly written stories this week, so instead he turned his attention to typing up the notes from his and Mitchie's earlier meeting.

She'd seemed much more nervous when she'd arrived earlier that day, almost as if she was preparing herself to be ripped to shreds. Whilst Tyler understood why she would worried about that, it concerned him and made him wonder if perhaps he'd given off a much too serious and intimidating impression.

He'd gone through all the notes that he'd come up with, which to be honest was much shorter than his notes usually were, and she seemed to take them on board quite happily. Then it came to the discussion about changing the ending and suddenly she became defensive.

"Do you honestly think," Tyler asked, trying to explain his point of view better, "that if he found out all the people from his past missed him and didn't know what had happened, if he truly cared about them and missed them, that once he found out he wouldn't go straight back to them?" Mitchie had remained quiet for a moment then replied with a single sentence.

"People don't come back." She stated.

It was in that moment that Tyler got a glance of how deeply Mitchie had been hurt in the past. He'd read the articles about the loss of Shane Grey and the effect it had had on her, but until that moment he hadn't believed it to be true. He could sense he wasn't going to win outright on the change to the ending and in some ways, if it wasn't an ending Mitchie believed in, then if she wrote it, it could spoil the entire book. The one thing that books filled with advice on how to write were always telling readers was the mantra: 'Write what you believe', and Tyler fully agreed with that.

"Perhaps he doesn't go back completely. I just don't believe that he would be as happy and confident as he seems about turning his back on everything. Perhaps there's a compromise we can come to."

Mitchie had asked for a few days to think about it, to consider what change she could make so that it still felt like the ending she wanted. Tyler had agreed, giving her the weekend to resolve it all. She walked away seeming so sad, it actually made Tyler feel guilty.

_GNG-GNG-GNG_

Mitchie couldn't help but feel sad as she walked through the city after her meeting. He hadn't liked her book, not 100%. It was something she'd forgotten about – the feeling of failure when someone isn't as pleased with your writing as you are. And now she had to find a way to change it so she was still pleased with it, but Tyler was also happy. All she could think was how blank her mind had been recently and it worried her, what if she couldn't come up with a good ending? Doubt filled her mind.

She wandered for a while, not even sure where she was going. She was so deep in thought that it took the voice of Anne-Marie, her fellow worker at the Jelly Bean Cafe, to pull her from her reverie.

"Oi, Torres." The young waitress called as she saw her friend standing in the doorway looking completely zoned out. Mitchie hadn't even realised she walked into her place of work. "You're not working today, are you?" Anne-Marie asked, certain it was the day she was stranded in the cafe alone each week.

"No, sorry, I didn't even realise I was here." Mitchie admitted, blushing.

"Typical Mitch. Well since you're here, why don't I get you a coffee, I was going to take a mini break anyway, I've got some gossip for you."

Mitchie took a seat beside the window, she liked the fact she could watch people going about their day and make up little stories about who they were and where they were going.

Moments later she was handed a frothy mocha as Anne-Marie joined her, instantly divulging the cafe's gossip of the day.

"You will _never_ guess who I served this morning. It was literally the best thing ever." Mitchie knew Anne-Marie was prone to overexcitement so didn't really expect the revelation to be all that great.

"I dunno, the president?" Mitchie hazarded a guess.

"No don't be ridiculous, though that would be totally cool wouldn't it? I bet he'd order something strong and quick, like an espresso, and he could probably be persuaded to indulge in a danish if we tried really hard..."

"Anne-Marie, focus!" Mitchie said, laughing, so used to her colleague's ability to get ahead of herself.

"Oh right yeah, well you remember Connect 3 right? That kids band that had a few decent hits, then one of them became an actor and the other became Nate Grey, musical legend and the third... well I don't remember what happened to him but that's not important. What was I saying?" Anne-Marie had never actually pieced together who Mitchie was, often leading to Mitchie feeling rather awkward when they ended up taking about the people who were her friends in her teenage years.

"That right, Nate Grey came into the cafe today. He is _so_ hot still. And he's our age. How cool would it be to date someone like him? And he seemed like a genuinely lovely guy, he even signed a mug for the cafe, look." Anne Marie rushed over the counter, grabbing one of the mugs from the back shelf, then rushed back, showing Mitchie the bottom of the mug, on which Nate's scruffy handwriting read 'To the Jelly Bean Cafe, from Nate Grey.'

'He could have been a bit original.' Mitchie thought, knowing that was what he wrote every time a fan asked for an autograph.

"I wonder if he's staying in New York for long. No actually I wonder if he has a girlfriend? Then again someone like him would never be interested in people like us." That nearly made Mitchie laugh.

"Why not?" She asked, wondering what Anne had meant by 'like us'.

"Well, we're just normal people, someone like him would never associate with mere mortals, they always want to be with their league, the rich, gorgeous, famous people. I mean you'd have more of a chance, at least you're beautiful, but I bet wherever he is now, he's already forgotten all about me."

"You're beautiful too. Stupid, but beautiful." Mitchie teased her friend, glad her feet had lead her here. No matter what they were talking about, Anne-Marie always managed to cheer her up. Better than that, she'd actually given her an idea.

Mitchie said her goodbyes before rushing back to her apartment, wanting to get her ideas onto paper as soon as she could.

Nate was waiting outside when she got back and Mitchie felt guilty. She should have gotten him a key cut on her way home. If he was going to stay, she couldn't leave him stranded during the day, he'd probably be mobbed by fans if they saw him just sitting around.

"Sorry I'm so late, I got a little side track." She said as a form of greeting, whilst opening the front door.

"No worries," Nate replied, "I haven't been here all that long." Sure, it was a little bit of a lie, but an hour wasn't really all that much time in the course of a day. "How'd the meeting go?" He asked as he followed her into the living room.

"Good, well, sort of. He wants me to change the ending, he doesn't think it's very realistic, so I've got to come up with something better." She grabbed one of the numerous notebooks that she had stashed around her house. Taking out a pen, she started to scribble her thoughts down.

"You've had an idea though right?" Nate said with a slight smirk. He knew his friend well and the frantic writing was a sure sign she was inspired. It took a few moments for Mitchie to reply, as she desperately tried to write out her idea in full so she wouldn't forget the details when she came to write it later that weekend.

"Hopefully one which will work. Actually you inspired it." She admitted, leaving Nate confused. "Your sudden reappearance here, and your visit to the Jelly Bean Cafe earlier, it's my old life meeting my new." Nate was still no clearer what she was talking about. "You'll understand when you read it." She carried on, realising he wasn't understanding her.

"I'll take your word for it." Nate said, settling onto the sofa. "So now it's the weekend, what's your plan?"

Normally Mitchie would have a quiet weekend, relaxing at home with a bit of junk TV and perhaps some junk food to match it. She often thought she really wasn't a typical 22 year old. But this weekend it was one of her friends' birthday and she had promised weeks ago that she would, for once, go out to celebrate. Almost everyone she knew was going to be there and she was well aware she would get a lot of stick if she didn't turn up.

"Well I'm meant to be going out to the clubs tonight. Fancy joining me?" Mitchie had read articles about her friend's recent excursions to the night clubs in LA and doubted he'd turn down the opportunity to experience what New York had to offer. When Nate agreed, a plan started to form in her head. Anne-Marie thought people like Nate would have no interest in people like them. Mitchie knew only too well that wouldn't be the case.


End file.
